Investigation has hit a dead end, say police

The Shivaji Nagar police have no leads in the kidnapping case of two-month-old Shahid. He was abducted by an unidentified woman from a civic health centre at Govandi on Monday.

mumbaiUpdated: Nov 17, 2010 00:57 IST

HT Correspondent Hindustan Times

The Shivaji Nagar police have no leads in the kidnapping case of two-month-old Shahid. He was abducted by an unidentified woman from a civic health centre at Govandi on Monday.

Senior Police Inspector DS Jodgudri said: “Tahir (8), Shahid’s brother, could not see the woman’s face as she wore a burqa. There are no CCTVs at the centre either, so there are no leads we can follow.”

“The centre has only one guard. In the mornings, a huge crowd assembles there, among which are many burqa-clad women and their children. So the guard did not suspect anything on spotting the woman.”

A police officer said on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media: “We showed the CCTV footage captured at VN Desai Hospital [where a child was kidnapped on October 15] in which the accused was visible to Tahir and his mother. However, the video quality was bad and they could not identify anyone. A few days ago, an infant was abandoned at Sion hospital. We took Shahid’s parents as well as those of the child taken from VN Desai Hospital to the infant. However, the infant belonged to neither of them. Police officers have been stationed at bus stops and railway stations to look out for the kidnapper.”

Jodgudri said: “We are working in tandem with the Vakola police, who are investigating the VN Desai Hospital abduction. It is possible that the abductor in both cases was the same.”

Mohammad Jabir Ansari (30), Shahid’s father, a jari

worker who resides with his family at Baiganwadi in Govandi, said: “We had no enmity with anyone. No one would do this to get back at us. We don’t care who did it; we just want our son back. We are scouring the locality ourselves, but we’ve had no luck so far.”